New data shows 3.2% of EU children missed medical care in 2024, rising to 4.2% among poorer families. Finland leads with highest unmet needs; Malta and Croatia have the lowest rates.
New Eurostat data reveals that while most children in Europe receive necessary medical care, access remains uneven across the continent. In 2024, 3.2% of children in the EU missed medical care — a figure that rose to 4.2% among those at risk of poverty, underscoring how income inequality continues to shape health outcomes.
The disparities are striking: Finland recorded the highest share of children missing care at 9.4%, followed by France (5.7%), Ireland (4.8%), and Sweden (4.2%). Meanwhile, Malta and Croatia (0.1%), Cyprus (0.6%), and Greece (0.8%) saw the lowest rates. Experts warn that unmet medical needs — especially missed vaccinations — may heighten risks of preventable diseases like measles.
Notably, the income gap in access was widest in Norway, Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, and Cyprus, where children from poorer families were far more likely to skip care. However, in countries such as Finland, Ireland, and the Czech Republic, lower-income children were actually more likely to access care than their wealthier peers — highlighting how perceptions, expectations, and health system structures continue to shape the meaning of “unmet needs” across Europe.
